Market Commentary by Shawn Blau PhD

Shawn Blau, PhD - Chief Investment Officer

Shawn Blau, PhD - Chief Investment Officer

Q2 - 2016

Climbing a Wall of Worry - Last quarter we predicted that the US stock market would “climb a wall of worry.” This turned out to be the case. As many of the previous macro-economic uncertainties eventually resolved themselves, more and more buyers were drawn into the market. As a result, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) returned almost 2-1/2% ...Read full report

Q1 2016

V-Shaped Stock Market - The first quarter of 2016 showed a classic “V-shaped” pattern. After one of the worst starts in stock market history, in which the market dropped over 10% in a violent downturn, the market staged an equally dramatic recovery in February to end the quarter almost exactly where it started...Read full report

Q4 2015

Don't Fight The Fed - The 4th quarter of 2015 saw the US central bank tighten interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. The Fed had given several “false alarms” earlier in the year but finally plunged in and raised the Fed Funds target rate from its previous range of 0 – 0.25% to the current range of...Read full report